Keeping the state's best talent right at home has always been a priority for head coach Mike Riley's staff. Each year he has managed to pull in a few of the top guys, and defensive talent Carl Sommer is a prime example of this.

Straight from the Portland suburb of Wilsonville, Sommer joined a very small list of players leaving high school early to prepare for a collegiate football career. Potential starting quarterbacks Sean Canfield and Ryan Katz are the only other Beavers in school history to arrive in Corvallis before fall camp in August. The coaching staff doesn't usually approve of this situation, but they have seen progression in the local Oregon kid from when he first came in a year ago.